


Hidden Leaf High

by Remylogan13



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family, Loss, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-11 23:42:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7912111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remylogan13/pseuds/Remylogan13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*I do not own any of these characters. </p><p>Naruto finds himself being thrown into a new school in the middle of his Junior year after being taken from one abusive foster home and being placed into a new safe one. He's struggling to find what he really wants in life- which is relationships with others and figuring what what he truly wants to do after he graduates.</p><p>Iruka is happy with his life and his job, but still feels something is missing. He pursues his dreams while helping Naruto figure out what his dreams are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome Home

Naruto paused for a moment when he reached the tall oak door in front of him.   
  
_Why does this always happen to me? Why do I have to go through this again?_  
  
He shook uneasily as he reached out to knock on the huge door. There was no answer. He tried knocking again but, this time he knocked a little louder than the first time.  
  
_Maybe nobody is home... What am I supposed to do now?_  
  
The heavy door opened as it revealed a tall pale man with long dark hair standing in the door way. Naruto stood gawking at the man and waiting for him to speak, but he didn’t say a word.  
  
_I guess I’ll have to be the first one then._  
  
“Is this the Hyūga residence?” He asked with a smile.  
  
“It is. I’m assuming you’re Naruto,” the man said as he stepped out on the porch, “We’ve been expecting you for some time now.”  
  
“Yes, I am. I’m sorry if I’m running a little late,” Naruto took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his blond locks nervously.  
  
“It’s quite alright. We were just expecting you an hour or so ago. I’m Hyūga Hiashi.” He stepped aside and gestured Naruto to enter the home.  
  
“Oh... I’m sorry. I had a hard time finding the place.” Naruto laughed as he stepped past Hiashi to gain entrance to the home. As he walked into the home he took mental notes of the interior. He noticed the home had a very expensive feel to it. After getting a good look around, he had come to the conclusion that this guy had to be loaded. Hiashi stepped back inside and closed the door behind Naruto. He inspected Naruto with his pale almost empty eyes, watching him look around the room in amazement.  
  
“Do you think our home will be to your liking?”  
  
“This place is amazing! I can’t believe you actually live here!” Naruto spun around looking at the room again. He was so focused on taking in the ambiance that he hadn’t noticed they were being watched. Slow footsteps approached the two men. Naruto turned to see a strangely beautiful blue haired girl standing in front of him.  
  
_Her eyes... They’re as pale as his. This must be one of his daughters. My social worker said he had two daughters and a nephew living in the house. I wonder where the other two are._  
  
“Father...” the girl said quietly as if she was uncomfortable. She was tapping her two index fingers together timidly.  
  
“Ah, Hinata... Good, I was wondering when you were going to come down. This is your new foster brother, Uzumaki Naruto,” he said sternly to his daughter, “You should show him to his room. It’s late and he probably wants to get some rest for his first day at his new high school tomorrow.”

Hinata took that as a cue to do as she was told. She didn’t want to disobey her father, so she motioned for Naruto to follow her as she walked up the stairs she had come down from a few minutes prior. Naruto followed swiftly behind her. Once at the top of the stairs, she walked all the way to the back of the hall. Pointing at the door to the left she said, “Um.. This is your room Naruto...” Stepping up to the door, she put her hand to the handle and opened it. Naruto got chills at the screeching sound the door made as it opened. He walked into the room following behind Hinata. She flipped the light switch on to reveal the room and how very organized it was.  
  
“Why are there two beds in here?” he asked with a confused look on his face.  
  
“Oh... Um... That’s my cousin Neji’s bed. You see... This is his room. My father thought it would be best if you shared a room with him,” She explained while trying not to blush. The blush started taking took over her face causing her to become embarrassed. She turned to rush out of the room and didn’t say another word. She slammed the door behind her, leaving Naruto by himself.  
  
“Well that wasn’t weird or anything…” He said to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. Looking around the room, he noticed that both sides of the room were completely identical. Neither side had any personal touches at all. There were two beds, one on each side of the room. The comforter sets were exactly the same, both black with white sheets and pillow cases. Both beds were made perfectly. The two end tables were both completely clear besides matching lamps with black shades. The closet was a walk-in on the right side of the room, but the clothes were evenly divided on both sides of it.  
  
_What the..? How the hell am I supposed to tell which side of the room is mine? Which bed is mine? She just ran off all flushed without saying a damn thing!_  
  
He kept trying to look for signs, anything that showed which side of the room belonged to his new foster brother. After taking a good 30 minutes searching, he had found nothing. “I guess I’ll just take the left side then.” He blurted out, not realizing he said it out loud.  
  
_Now I’m talking to myself... great._  
  
Walking over to the bed on the left of the room, he stripped down to his boxers. Pulling the covers down before climbing in, he couldn’t help smiling.  
  
_So this is my new foster home... I wonder if this will be the last one._    
  
Naruto had just been removed from another foster home just before he was placed into this one. His previous foster parents hadn’t even had a room ready for him when he moved in and the father beat him bloody every night. After his social worker discovered bruising on his arms and deep scratches on both sides of his cheeks, she took action and had him removed immediately. Not wanting him to have to switch schools in the middle of his junior year of high school, she looked for a placement around where he was currently living, but came up empty. However, another home was available with a great family ready to take him in. So, off he was to live with the Hyūga family. Everything so far was going so great for him. What could go wrong?  
  
Naruto laid his head to the pillow and closed his eyes. It didn’t take long for slumber to welcome him with open arms.  
  
\---------------------------------------------------------------

  
“Hmm...mmm...” a strange voice rang in Naruto’s ear. It twitched when it grabbed ahold of the sound.  
  
A hand reached around his waist and down, down, down it went into his boxers. Naruto trembled in his sleep at the touch. Wandering hands rubbed gently across him. Realizing something was wasn’t quite right, he opened his eyes to reveal a completely dark room.  
  
_I thought I left the light on?_  
  
He couldn’t see a thing, but he felt a rush of heat. A strange sensation came over him.  
  
_What’s going on...?_  
  
Too tired for his brain to fully register that somebody had their hands around him, he rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes shut again. Quick hands were having their way with him. Quiet moans left his mouth. His thoughts that were clouded with sleepiness and the feeling that he was dreaming suddenly left him. Upon feeling the weight of another body on top of him, he opened his eyes again.  
  
_What’s going...? Hinata?!_  
  
Suddenly freaked out at the thought of what was happening, he pushed the body off to the side and sat up. The body lay motionless. Snores started to fill the room with sound.  
  
_I don’t understand... Is this Hinata? Is she seriously asleep now?_  
  
Crawling over the body, he got out of the bed and turned on the lights. Approaching the body in the bed, he began to get a better view of the person.  
  
_This isn’t Hinata? So... it must be her cousin she was talking about. Why the hell was he in bed with me? Why was he...?_  
  
Beginning to freak out, Naruto started shaking the person to wake them for an explanation. They continued with their snoring, but they didn’t move or respond to his shaking. Deciding he would just get an explanation tomorrow, he walked over to the bed on the other side of the room.  
  
_I guess I’ll just go to sleep for now until I can find out what just happened. If I can sleep..._  
  
\---------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The morning light shined brightly through the white curtains of Naruto’s new bedroom. Glimmering brightly it touched every part of the room including his face. He started wincing as the light got brighter, making it harder for him to sleep. It only took a few moments for his eyes to crack open.  
  
_What time is it?_  
  
He looked around wearily. Noticing the other bed was empty now and made, a deep feeling of confusion spread through him.  
  
_Was that all just some weird dream? No, it couldn’t have been... I’m in a different bed._  
  
Sighing, he pushed himself up and out the bed. Not bothering to make it after crawling out. He decided it would be best to go downstairs now; he grabbed his clothes from yesterday, got dressed, and made his way out of the room. Heading downstairs was his first step, but the second step was to find Neji and ask him what happened last night.  
  
Reaching the bottom of the stairs he noticed that nobody was around. In fact, the entire house was silent. The clock on the wall before him said 9:30 Am.  
  
_9:30... 9:30!!!!! I’M LATE! MY FIRST DAY AT A NEW SCHOOL AND NOBODY BOTHERED TO WAKE ME UP??_  
  
Panicking, he shoved his shoes onto his feet and bolted out the front door of the house. Still wearing yesterday’s dirty clothes, his teeth not brushed, his hair a spiky blond mess (more so than usual), and of course his stomach empty from skipping dinner the night before. Determining it wasn’t worth the trouble to stop to get breakfast now that he was going to be late, he ran straight in the direction of his new school. He remembered his social worker saying that the school was only 5 minutes from his new home. It was actually only two roads away.  
  
_Please don’t let me get in trouble. This isn’t even my fault!_  
  
\---------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Iruka enjoyed his long weekend off, but he was more than ready to come back to school. Loving his job was an understatement. It was the most precious thing he had in his life. There was nothing else that meant as much to him. Some people would say that a high school counselor isn’t anything special. They would be wrong. To him, this job was everything. Always on time and always ready to help in any way that he could. His job wasn’t just a job, but a way that he could spend his time truly helping kids find what they were best at and helping guide them through the paths their lives would take. His students, his friends and colleagues, his mentor, and himself were the glue that held the school together. He was proud of that, to be a part of that.  
  
On the way to his office with a stack of files so high that he could barely see over the top of them, he did a weird sort of waddle down the hallways of Hidden Leaf High. Most of the students would mock him behind his back when he did this, but only because they were amazed that he didn’t crash into anything or drop them when he was waddling like that. Not even once, that is until today.  
  
_Maybe I shouldn’t take so many with me at once... I’m not in a race or anything. I have time. I usually don’t even get any student visitors until at least 11. I wonder if i'll run into him on my way to my office..._  
  
Iruka continued along all while thinking to himself and paying even less attention than he usually did. Coming around the corner he smacked straight into a student that was running down the halls, also not paying attention to where they were going. Papers shot out of personal files all over the hallway floor. The floors went from a cerulean blue to an off white as the papers began to land everywhere in scattered groups. Students began scrambling to help him pick them up. The student he had bumped into was lying next to him and had the appearance that he was about to cry or possibly explode with rage, he couldn’t really tell.  
  
“Excuse me, I don’t think I know you?”  
  
“Oh... No, probably not. I’m Uzumaki Naruto... It’s my first day and I was late. Then I was lost on the way to the principal’s office... I’m trying to find out what classes I’m supposed to be in,” he said while helping to pick up some of the papers the man had dropped when they crashed together, “I’m really sorry...hah. This is just my luck.”  
  
“Naruto, huh? Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m the school guidance counselor, Umino Iruka. Don’t worry about it. I shouldn’t have had so many files all at once anyway. I can show you to the office if you like? My office is in the same place as his and I’m on my way there now.”  
  
Iruka finished gathering up his files that were still on the ground and began retrieving the rest from students who had helped pick them up. “Thank you all!” he said as he turned back to Naruto waiting for a response. He knew he could count on his students to help him out, even if they laughed at the way he walked with all of the files in his field of view.  
  
“Really?! You’d do that? Thanks so much!” Naruto practically spilled with glee. “I guess I’ll follow you then!”  
  
“Alright sounds like a plan,” Iruka said smiling back to the boy, “So, it’s your first day here... Switching in the middle of the school year may be hard to adjust to. If you need any help with anything my door is always open. I mean that. Don’t be afraid to stop in, even if you just need to talk. I know how difficult it can be making friends in high school, especially in the middle of the year.”  
  
“Oh. Wow! That’s really nice of you, Iruka sensei! I may just take you up on that offer too. I’m actually really nervous about making friends... I didn’t have many friends in my last school. I didn't really have anybody. I wasn’t really there long enough...”  
  
“That’s a shame, Naruto; you seem like a really great kid.” Iruka said as he pulled the door to the main offices open. “We’re here. The secretary’s names are Shizune and Tsunade, but you be careful how you talk to them. They can be a handful, haha. Go ahead and ask them if you can speak with Sarutobi sensei. He’s a little intimidating, but he’s my mentor and he’s a kind brilliant man. I really think he’ll like you.”  
  
“Alright! Thanks again for everything, Iruka sensei. See ya’ later!”  
  
“See you too. My office is that green door right to the left of Tsunade’s desk. Come on in whenever you need to. Hope you have a good first day!” Iruka said brimming with joy.  
  
_What a wonderful kid... I think I can expect to see great things from him in the future. Now... back to my office to sort these files back together._  
  
Iruka turned and headed into his office, closing the door gently behind him.  
  
\---------------------------------------------------------------  
  
_Naruto._  
  
“He really is something. I bet Kakashi will like him.”  
  
_Not that I care what Kakashi likes... He barely even talks to me. He must think that I’m strange or something. Every time I’m near him I can’t really talk right. I stutter, I blush, and I embarrass myself in front of all of my colleagues. It’s so unprofessional. That’s why I stopped eating lunch in the teachers’ lounge. Oh, how I love eating alone every day._  
  
Kakashi... hm.  
  
His mind raced with thoughts of Kakashi for a few moments more, as he pictured his face crystal clear in his mind (most of it anyways) and what it would be like to actually have the courage to speak full complete sentences to him. He was always so suave and almost unemotional that it made reading him way too hard for Iruka, Especially since he always kept from his nose down covered completely with a medical mask. He had always assumed the silver haired health teacher had a fear of germs or something like that. Though it crossed his mind that maybe he was just trying to hide the rest of the scar that was over his left eye, his mysterious red tinged eye. He tried, occasionally to get closer to him, but ended up running out of the teachers’ lounge either completely pissed off or with a streak of blush across the scar that rested on his nose. After a while, eating in his office was the only path left to take. He couldn’t let himself get distracted like that anymore with somebody who didn’t give him the time of day. His dreams were on the line. More than anything he wanted to see them come true, his passion was his driving force. To buy a house, find somebody to share his house and his life with, somebody to love him whom he loved in return, somebody he could have kids with, and spend the rest of his life with enjoying the bliss of each other’s company.  
__  
Back to work...  
  
Iruka sifted through his papers trying to sort them in piles corresponding to the files they originally belonged to. He was exhausted after his little bump into Naruto, but he didn’t mind because he was absolutely fascinated with the boy. He really wanted to help him settle into his new school and uncover his full potential. Not that he could put his finger on the reason, but he felt drawn to him almost as if they had something in common he wasn’t quite aware of yet.  
  
\---------------------------------------------------------------  
  
“Hey, grandma!” Naruto said with a huge grin stretching across his face.  
  
“Excuse me? Do you know who you’re speaking to? You will address me respectfully. I know I heard Iruka tell you my name,” Tsunade said practically hissing at the boy, “Who are you anyway? Do you need something?”  
  
“Well... I’m Uzumaki Naruto. Today was supposed to be my first day, but I didn’t wake up and then I was late. I was running so fast to get here that I ran right into Iruka sensei and made him drop all of his papers everywhere. So, then I helped him pick them up and he showed me where I needed to be. Now I’m here!”  
  
“That’s great, really it is, but what I’m asking is... Do you need something in this office?”  
  
“Oh! Right! I need to know my schedule.” He rubbed the back of his neck and let out a giggle.  
  
“I see. Well, you’ll have to talk to my superior for that.” She stood up from behind her desk and started to walk to the door beside Iruka sensei’s office. Knocking lightly on the door she yelled, “Sarutobi sensei! We have a new student who needs to speak with you.”  
  
“Very well. Send them in please, Tsunade.”  
  
Naruto started sweating a little bit at the sound of his voice. He sounded old, but wise and kind just like Iruka sensei had said he was.  
  
_His mentor... huh. Well if Iruka sensei likes him I probably will too!_  
  
Tsunade opened the principal’s office door and held it open while gesturing Naruto to enter. Naruto walked quickly into the office and set his eyes on the older man. He was much older than he was expecting, but looked every bit as wise as he sounded. Taking a few moments to eye the room before sitting down, Naruto noticed several pictures around his office of what looked like him and his students and faculty. There was even one of Iruka sensei and him with their arms around each other. They were both smiling and laughing.  
  
“Welcome Home, Naruto, I’ve been reading your file anticipating your arrival for a while now. I’m Hiruzen Sarutobi. I have your schedule all ready for you. Since you’ve missed your first class, I’m just going to have you go straight to the second one. Your teacher will be Hatake Kakashi, or Kakashi sensei to you. He’s one of the best teachers in this school, so listen to every word he has to say. You’ll learn a lot from him.”  
  
“Of course, old man! What do you take me for?” Naruto burst with laughter until he realized something the old man said didn’t sit right inside him.  
  
_Did he say Welcome Home? What does that even mean?_  
  
“Ah... Welcome Home, what do you mean by that? I don’t have a real home...” His face went from joyous to grim in a matter of seconds.  
  
Hiruzen could tell he wasn’t meaning to come off as offensive, so he let it slide. He smirked to himself at the thought of this boy openly calling him 'Old man' without a care in the world.He had taken the past few days to brush up on Naruto’s file. He was surprised a boy so young had gone through as much as he has, but still manages to keep a smile on his face. Not only that, but he kept the mood light and fun with his humor. He had an aura that surrounded him.   
  
“By that I mean, Welcome to our fold. Hidden Leaf High isn’t just a school to us here, it’s a family. We’re all connected. We want to see you succeed. We want to help you and to be there for you. We all need each other." Hiruzen said as he reached his hand out to shake Naruto's.  
  
Something ignited inside of Naruto. A flicker of warmth sparked through his body.  
  
_It’s a family…_  
  
“I’ve never had a family before,” he said dryly, “but that sounds nice.”  
  
“Well you have one now, son.”  
  
Their hands connected in an honest and warm handshake. It was the first gentle meaningful touch Naruto had experienced in a long time.   
  
Only 16 years old and Naruto had already lost both of his parents, bounced from foster home to foster home since birth and hasn’t had any close bonds through the years besides his social worker. Not that you can even call that a bond. She had to be in his life, she didn’t choose to be. She was assigned to his case and he knew that. He was thankful for all of her help, but it just wasn’t the same to him. Naruto longed for a bond with someone that wasn’t forced onto him. He was already starting to know what real bonds were; he just hadn’t realized it until just now. Two people, Iruka sensei and the old man... two people who didn’t need to be so nice to him. They didn’t need to care, but they did. They were accepting him. They were like his ‘family’ now.  
  
“I guess I’ll go off to class then. Thanks old man...” Naruto smiled softly before exiting the principal’s office and out of the main office to head to his first class.  
  
_Maybe this won’t be so bad after all._

 


	2. Misunderstandings

Kakashi sat at his desk in his classroom flipping through the pages of his Icha Icha Paradise novel written by Hidden Leaf High’s very own Master Jiraiya. He was the English teacher and his books were quite popular among adults, even some of the staff enjoyed them. Kakashi in particular loved them all and had read every book in the series (more than once). Jiraiya would even let him read copies of his future books that weren’t even published yet because he knew Kakashi was one of his biggest fans. They weren’t quite ‘school friendly’ novels, but none of the students knew what they were anyway. Only reading them during his breaks in between his classes and on his lunches in the teachers’ lounge, he had never heard a complaint from his peers or his students. His second period class was about to start in a few minutes. He wouldn’t have even noticed because his nose was in his book, but he started to hear the sound of students laughing and gossiping all around him. Their voices were booming in his classroom making the sound almost unbearable. He loved his students, but sometimes they were really annoying. Unable to even hear his own thoughts at this point he decided to just close the book for another time. Standing up to greet his students as they finished entering the classroom, he noticed that most of them were already seated except for a new student he was supposed to be expecting today. 

Kakashi knew he was too tired for this. He just wanted to know where this new student was so he could get on with his class. The faster he could start the better. Class was just minutes from beginning and soon he would have to shut the door, rejecting the poor kid entry. Dreading the thought of having to do so, on a new student’s first day, he was contemplating on whether or not he should wait a few minutes after the bell rings. It wouldn’t hurt, but he liked to tell himself that he was the only one who was allowed to be late to his classes. 

_Ding, ding, ding._ The bell sounded and made the entire class alert, their eyes all landing on their teacher waiting to see what he would do. 

Well, that was that. The class had eyes on him, probably seeing if he would be cruel enough to close the door. After waiting just two minutes longer than he was going to, he decided that was plenty of time and that the rest of the class needed his attention. Stepping to the door, he reached out and went to close it. The door slammed back towards him in a hurried motion and mashed right against his foot. He hitched his breath and let out a small sigh, possibly a little bit of a whimper as well. Wonder who this could be? As if he didn’t already know. Pain was shooting from his foot, slowing inching up his leg. The aching was distracting, but not so much that he didn’t notice a blond mop running past him in a blur of yellow. 

“I’m so sorry!” The blond said as his face started to turn red, “I didn’t realize you were standing behind the door.” 

The entire class started snickering as they watched the spectacle as it unfolded. 

“Well, Naruto, that’s what happens when you’re late to class and the teacher goes to shut the door.” Kakashi reached down and grabbed at his foot for a moment trying to dull the pain.

“How did you know my name?” Naruto watched as the teacher grabbed at his foot, but tried to keep his expression lifeless as if to show off that he wasn’t hurt. 

“I know everything. I must be psychic.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“How do you think I know?” Kakashi wasn’t even sure how he knew. Somebody must’ve told him and he had forgotten. 

“The old man?”

The class erupted in amusement at Naruto’s nickname for Sarutobi sensei. 

“Alright, that’s enough everybody. Naruto! Go take a seat. Any of the open ones aren’t assigned yet. Whatever seat you choose will be your seat for the rest of the year.” Kakashi pointed to a few chairs that were open around the room. Slightly embarrassed that it was indeed the ‘old man’ who had mentioned the boy’s name to him before school started today. Was he getting so old that he couldn’t remember something so simple? No, it more that he was distracted by wanting to get back to his book. 

Kakashi kept his eyes on Naruto. The blond was walking around the room what felt like 100 times looking at the empty seats as if he was contemplating which one would be best and assessing the students that were close by them. He was painstakingly trying to pick the perfect seat. 

“Any day now,” Kakashi said as he was beginning to lose his patience, which was rare for him. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

“Naruto... Come sit by me.” Hinata was waving Naruto over to her with a huge blush nestled across her cheeks. 

She was sitting in the middle of the room. Naruto would’ve went to sit by her immediately since she was a familiar face, but he avoided it because she was sitting next to a boy with short brown hair and tattoos on his face who looked disgusted at Naruto for no good reason at all. He didn’t like that. Two red triangles graced both sides of the boy’s face. At first he was convinced that they weren’t really tattoos and that they had to be some kind of paint. Who gets tattoos of triangles on their face? Was he even old enough to have actual tattoos?

The more he walked past him though the more he realized they really were real tattoos. The boy was glaring at Naruto hard as if he was trying to bore holes straight through his chest. What was his problem? Naruto didn’t know, but he knew he couldn’t have possibly done something to make this boy so angry at him. 

After mulling it over far too long, Naruto took claim to the desk in front of Hinata’s. He leaned his head back resting it on the small pile of books she had laying on her desk and smiled, “Thanks Hinata!”

“Oh… Naruto…You’re welcome.” She smiled and tried to hide the fact that her entire face was turning the color of her angry friend’s triangle tattoos. She was doing that weird thing with her fingers again too. 

The boy scoffed at the whole encounter between the two of them. 

“Why don’t you go back where you came from?” He growled in Naruto’s direction. 

“HEY! I didn’t do shit to you! What’s your problem with me?”

“I don’t have a problem! Maybe I just don’t like you, that’s all.” 

Naruto could feel his blood boiling and he was about to do something about it. 

“ALRIGHT. ENOUGH.” Kakashi’s voice overpowered all other sounds in the room. 

Every student in the class went dead silent and stared at their teacher.

“Kiba! Naruto! Knock it off, NOW. I MEAN IT.”

Kiba looked bitterly over to Naruto, but didn’t say another word. 

Naruto mumbled under his breath. “Kiba...” That was a stupid name wasn’t it? He felt like it was a stupid name. He hadn’t even done anything and now this… Kiba, was being a huge jerk to him and managed to get him in trouble AGAIN on his first day here. Some impression he’s been making.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Kakashi really was at his limit. He had wanted to like his new student. He wanted to have a good day today too. Unfortunately neither of those things was happening right now. 

“Open your books up to page 113 please. Naruto since you don’t have a book, I’m going to ask you to scoot your desk over and look at Hinata’s book for today.”

Kakashi could tell why Kiba was so upset, but he really didn’t have the energy to deal with it. Kiba tended to act defensive to anyone when it came to Hinata. They had wasted so much time that class was almost over. He hadn’t taught one single lesson. Class today was basically watching Naruto circle the room for like 30 minutes. Watching Naruto scoot his desk next to Hinata’s desk and Kiba’s expression were almost priceless though. Kiba and her were both turning red, but for different reasons. Naruto on the other hand had no idea what was going on. It really is the simple things in life; he couldn’t help but snicker a little bit under his breath.

“Alright, so as you can tell from the page you just turned to, today were going to be talking about Mental and Emotional healt-” _Ding, ding, ding._ Kakashi sighed as he heard the bell cut off his speech. “Well, I guess we’ll save that for tomorrow then. Class dismissed.” 

Kakashi was beyond ready for lunch, but his 2nd period had only just ended and lunch wasn’t until 6th period. Seeing that most of the students were rushing out the door, he pulled his Icha Icha Paradise back out of his pocket and plopped down in his chair to continue where he had left off. He didn’t have another class to teach until after lunch anyways. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto was out of his seat that he had just moved and was busy pushing it back to where it was until he was rudely interrupted.

“Hey! You!” 

Naruto turned to find himself being dragged out of the classroom by Kiba.

“What do you want with Hinata?” Naruto could feel the venom in his words.

“I don’t want anything with her? She’s my foster sister. That’s all. I don’t know what your problem is, but I didn’t do anything to you! Get out of my face!”

“So…you’re not interested then?” Kiba’s anger dropped and he suddenly looked surprised, but also really really excited.

“Why would I be? I’m not going to risk being taken out of my new foster house on the first day! She’s nice and all, but…”

“Oh…I get it. Well, that makes more sense man! Why didn’t you say so?!?”

Naruto furrowed his brows and thought about how the other boy had never even given him a chance? Kiba just jumped right to conclusions and was being an ass to him! He raised his eyebrows as it finally dawned on him that Kiba obviously liked his foster sister as more than a friend.

“You like her? You should just ask her on a date then instead of acting like a wild animal when somebody tries to be nice to her. I wouldn’t be interested even if she wasn’t my foster sister, but mostly because I don’t like the way she looks at me.” Naruto smiled with his best convincing grin to the other boy hoping being nice would convince Kiba to tell him where Neji was, “By the way… Do you know where I can find her cousin? I really need to talk to him.” Not that he really wanted to and he definitely didn’t know what he was going to say. The first time he was ever touched like that and it was his foster brother… It figures.

“Neji? No, he’s a grade of ahead of us. You’ll be able to see him at lunch though. 9-12 eat lunch together in the cafeteria.”

“Oh…Okay I guess I’ll have to keep waiting then.” Naruto sighed and started to walk back into the classroom to finish moving his desk. 

“Hey! Naruto! Did you really mean what you said…? You know, about me asking Hinata out on a date?” Kiba hollered back to Naruto as he was walking away. 

“Go for it! It doesn’t hurt to try!”

Kiba was nodding to himself as he watched Naruto walk away. He was impressed with how he had seemingly forgiven his outburst already and had encouraged him to ask out the girl of his dreams. Smirking to himself, he realized he had just made a new friend. Already thinking of his plan to ask Hinata out, he couldn’t help but wonder in the back of his head why Naruto wanted to chat with Neji so badly. Neji kind of terrified him. He was always so serious and…cold?

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Kakashi groaned loudly as he noticed Naruto come walking back into his classroom. 

“Do you need something Naruto?” He said with his face still covered by his book. 

“I just wanted to move my desk back before I went to my next period, Kakashi sensei.”

“You didn’t have to, I could’ve taken care of it.”

“That’s just not my way. I had to come back to fix it. I don’t like leaving things unfinished.”

Kakashi’s face flooded with a surprised look as he finally poked his head up to look at Naruto. Never would he ever have expected the blond boy to come back in to his classroom to finish moving the desk after his little ‘heart to heart’ with Kiba that Kakashi was totally NOT ease dropping on. He was sure the overzealous boy would’ve gone on to his next lesson and left the small school desk out of its rightful place. He watched as Naruto finished moving the desk back and walked towards him. 

“Thank you, Naruto. That’s a big help t-” He was cut off as somebody else entered the room.

“IRUKA SENSEI!” Naruto was practically overflowing with delight as he spun on his heels to turn to the door. 

Kakashi’s eyes drifted over to Iruka. What was he doing here? He was almost mesmerized by the tan skinned coworker because he wasn’t used to seeing him out and about. Usually he could be found hiding in his office all day, even at lunch time. Never quite sure why he stayed there, it was almost a breath of fresh air to see Iruka in his classroom for the first time ever. He couldn’t take his eyes off of his silky dark hair, the scar that adorned his nose, or how he held his body with his left hand on his hip. He really looked beaut- No. No. No. He shook the thought away.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

“Naruto. There you are! Sarutobi sensei wanted me personally to come find you and give you this.” He reached his hand out to Naruto holding the boy’s schedule that Hiruzen had forgotten to give to him earlier. “This has all of your classes listed for the rest of this year.”

“Oh man. Thanks Iruka sensei! You’re a lifesaver! I was beginning to worry; I wasn’t sure where I was supposed to go next.” Naruto gleamed back to his favorite sensei before running out the door to his next class. 

That boy…He was something else. Iruka’s thoughts were interrupted as he realized exactly whose class he was standing in, now alone with the person he was so smitten with. 

“Iruka sensei, it’s nice to see you out of your office for once.” Kakashi hid a smirk underneath his mask. 

Iruka started back stepping towards the door trying to escape with some dignity. He couldn’t be there. Not with him. Shit. Shit. Shit. He couldn’t do this. Not right now. He started speeding up his pace as he watched Kakashi getting up from his desk and striding in his direction. 

Deciding he needed to get away as fast as humanly possible, he opted to turn around so he could make a run for it. Unfortunately, today he was having one of those days where everything seemed to go dead fucking wrong. He had just managed to somehow trip over his own two feet during his great escape and he was now heading head first to the classroom floor. Until, he wasn’t. His eyes were closed, but he had felt his body stop dropping. Before he knew what was happening his head was pressed against Kakashi’s chest. The speed in which the silver haired man caught him and pulled him close was incredible. It was before his own brain even registered that he was going down. Afraid to move at all, he just stayed still. 

Was this actually happening? Did he really catch him? It felt like time was stopped around the two of them. The school was loud with the sounds of children, but in that moment everything was quiet. This was like one of Iruka’s dreams that he always had of Kakashi grabbing him by the arm and pulling him into his embrace. Looking deep into his eyes and pulling his chin up so their lips could touch. Only, this wasn’t one of his dreams this was actually happening. Iruka’s body temperature was rising to uncomfortable levels as he melted into Kakashi’s arms. 

“Iruka… Iruka?”

He still couldn’t force himself to move. He was lost in his thoughts and overwhelmed with those dreams of his and the tender kisses Kakashi would press against various places on his body.

“Iruka…” Kakashi cupped the tan man’s chin with his free hand and lifted it up from his chest to look at his face. “Are you alright?”

Iruka finally opened his eyes and there they were. Kakashi’s eyes were looking right back into his. This was it. It was his moment. He had told himself to give up on Kakashi, but here he was. He was finally paying him some attention. Here they were together in this perfect moment. “Kakashi… I..I-” His words were cut off. 

“Your nose is bleeding.”

“What-t? My…” 

WHAT? Iruka pulled his head away from Kakashi’s hand and looked down to the other man’s shirt. It was soaked. He got so excited, but it never occurred to him that he was soaking Kakashi’s shirt… in blood. Of course, that’s just absolutely fucking perfect. His entire face flushed and he started pushing himself away from Kakashi’s body, but Kakashi still had a hold of him refusing to let go. 

“I don’t think you should try to stand on your own just yet.”

“Let go of me! Don’t touch me!” Iruka started screaming at him much much too loud for a school setting.

“Iruka, calm down. It’s fine.” Kakashi let go of him and watched kind of amused, but also confused. He wasn’t really sure why Iruka was so embarrassed. 

“Stay away from me! Don’t touch me again.” Iruka said as he covered his nose with the cuff of his forest green dress shirt. He turned away from Kakashi and ran out of the room towards his office. Blood drops were falling to the floor leaving a path behind him. He needed to go home. NOW.

Kakashi looked down at his grey button up and his red tie that was now stained with blood. This was only 3rd period, so he would have to go home to change before his 7th period class that was right after lunch. He pressed his finger to the blood on his shirt and couldn’t help smiling to himself. He had only then realized why Iruka was so upset and how his nose was bleeding when he caught him before his head was even able to hit the floor. Iruka liked him. A lot. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

The cafeteria of Hidden Leaf High was bustling with laughter. It felt warm and friendly. Naruto had never heard so many happy people in one place before. He’d been to other schools, sure, but this one was totally different. He could already tell. On his way to the lunch room three people had already asked him to sit with them, but he declined. They seemed nice enough, but at his last school when someone asked him to sit with them at lunch on his first day it was a trick. They offered him a seat and a pretty girl sat next to him with her eyelashes fluttering. A girl never made a point to flirt with him before, so he was pretty excited, but it was short lived when that same girl poured the contents from her milk carton over his head while her buddies flung their unfinished food in his direction. None of them had missed their mark, unfortunately. He was so embarrassed, but mostly hurt that people were so quick to turn on somebody they didn’t even know. He spent the rest of his time at that school eating in the bathroom stall on the third floor bathroom as far away from the lunch room as possible. 

This time it would be different. Naruto had promised himself that much. It’s not that he didn’t want to sit with the pretty blonde and her two friends, but the situation felt all too familiar to him. It left a bad taste in his mouth. After making his way through the lunch line and receiving his tray full of food, he decided it would probably be best to just head straight to one of the closest bathrooms. 

The bathroom was quiet. Nobody was in there, which was perfect. The idea of being caught eating while sitting on a dirty toilet made Naruto cringe a little, but what was the alternative? Suffering through another cruel practical joke that left him almost near tears in front of a room full of laughing strangers? Not again, not ever again. He was older now and stronger. 

Trying to ignore the horrible smell while he was finishing up his last bite of food, he was suddenly distracted by the sound of the bathroom door opening. Somebody came in and went directly to the sink, turning on the water, and mumbling to themselves. Naruto couldn’t help listening, but he wanted to see too. Peeking through the crack between the door and the stall wall he saw him. HIM. The teenager was standing with his gaze focused on the mirror. It was Neji. He remembered his face from the ‘incident’ the night before, but also…the resemblance to Hinata was uncanny. He watched his new foster brother with care trying to be as quiet as possible.

Neji focused on himself in the mirror. He still felt a little hungover, how he wasn’t sure, but he did. The loud conversations from the cafeteria made his head feel like it was splitting open. Not only that, but he wanted to get away from his girlfriend Tenten. She was all over him lately and it bugged him more than it should. She could probably sense something was wrong. He thought that he loved her once, before he realized what real deep painful love was really like, but now… Since that day, nothing would ever be the same. He couldn’t look at her face and see the same beauty he once saw. She was beautiful as his friend, but not beautiful as his lover. There was only one person that was THAT beautiful to him now, but that didn’t matter anymore. It can’t matter anymore. He lifted the bottom of his shirt up a little bit, just enough so that he could peer down at the tattoo rested on his right hip. The first tattoo he had ever got, the only marking on his body aside from the brand on his forehead he felt he could never get away from. The tattoo that reminds him of the time they spent together. The tattoo that reminds him of the way his body felt underneath theirs. The reason he drinks himself into a stupor every school night before bed. The reason he wakes up and doesn’t remember even coming home. All of his thoughts that he used the alcohol to bury deep in the recesses of his mind were being dragged back up again. Closing his eyes, all he could see was the face of the person that meant everything to him. That was all it took. When the first tear broke free from its chains the rest poured out after it. This was inevitable. He was trying so hard to be okay, to forget, to forgive. He couldn't fake it anymore. It was only a matter of time. He forced his eyes open again to look at himself. How stupid he must look if anyone else were to see him. “Pathetic.” He said as he watched more tears glide down the sides of his cheeks. All he was now was… _Pathetic._

A crash echoed through the bathroom from behind Neji. He was visibly startled and also looked severely pissed. Naruto looked down at the tray he just dropped off of his lap onto the restroom floor. This… this isn’t good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed this chapter up a little bit from the way I formed the first one, but I think I like it better this way. I hope it's good for you guys as well. I'm still trying to figure out this whole writing thing! 
> 
> Neji is my favorite Naruto character and I ended up making him his own story in this little world (I couldn't help myself), but odds are it won't be included in this. I will probably do it separately at some point.
> 
> Also, I'm sorry there's no Sasuke yet! He's coming, I promise.


	3. Denial

There was twenty minutes of lunch left when Sasuke finally came out of his daydream to listen to what his friends were conversing about around the table. Sasuke was sitting next to Sakura who was on his right with Karin sitting across from her. Suigetsu was to the left of Karin. Jugo was on Sasuke’s left with nobody across from him. That left three empty seats at their table that would more than likely never be filled. Sasuke was perfectly content with the idea that it would stay that way. He didn’t like letting people in and letting Sakura join their group a while back just about killed him. 

“Okay, maybe, but I think Sasuke will have to agree with me on this one Karin.” Sakura boasted as she shot her eyes to the red haired girl with glasses across from her. 

Why would she think that he would agree with her of all people was beyond him. “Agree with you about what?” Very seldom would he indulge the two of them, but he was in a rare mood today. He tried to keep his tone icy and detached, but he was a little distracted. He had recently come to what he considered to be a decent sized realization and it was weighing heavily on his mind that he hadn’t talked to his brother about it yet. 

“She thinks that the new boy looks like a ‘total loser’ and wants you to acknowledge her opinion,” Karin snorted, “but I know that you couldn’t possibly agree with her, Sasuke-kun.” 

“What new boy?” Sasuke couldn’t honestly remember hearing anything about a new kid all day, but then again even if he did the information wasn’t interesting enough to grab his attention at the time. 

“Sasuke, come on, you know I’m right on this one. You think everybody is a loser besides us anyways.” Sakura was bragging again with her eyes lingering on Sasuke now instead of Karin waiting for his response. 

“I don’t believe you are one to talk on what I think, Sakura, I find you to be completely annoying and the only reason you’re allowed to sit here is because I owed you a favor for getting Ino away from me,” Sasuke brought his eyes full of intensity to meet Sakura’s soft green gaze, “If he _is_ a total loser I will make that decision for myself.” 

“Who’s a total loser?” A voice from behind made Sakura jolt as she brought her hands up to cling to Sasuke’s arm, much to his displeasure. 

“Itachi…” Sasuke pushed Sakura’s hands off of him and turned to look at his older brother. Think about him and he shall appear. 

“Sasuke.” Itachi nodded to his little brother and his table full of troublemakers. “So what’s this about somebody being a total loser?”

“Nobody. They’re just gossiping about the new kid.” 

“I see. Well, maybe they shouldn’t be so quick to judge somebody they haven’t even met yet. I’m glad to hear you’re actually keeping your mind open to the possibility of a new friend, Sasuke.”

Sasuke turned his head away from his brother to hide the faint splash of red on his cheeks. “I never said anything about a new friend! Don’t you have a lesson plan to write or something?” 

“You’re right. I’ll see you at home, little brother.” 

Sasuke turned back to his brother, watching as Itachi took his index and middle fingers together to poke him right in the middle of his forehead. A very familiar gesture from his older brother to let him know he cares, or that’s what Sasuke always assumed anyways. 

Sasuke was glad to see his brother leave as his friends were starting to discuss more inappropriate topics like who had the nicest ‘rack’ in their grade. Jugo was the only one besides Sasuke who clearly didn’t care. 

“It’s obviously Hinata,” Suigetsu said resting his head against his palm with his eyes closed speaking thoughtfully. It was clear to Sasuke that Suigetsu was imaging Hinata’s chest in his mind, but he chose to ignore it. Karin on the other hand chose not to overlook Suigetsu’s comment and slapped her hand across his face. Hard.

“Seriously, Suitgetsu!” Karin looked more pissed than she should’ve been. This wasn’t exactly new behavior for Suigetsu. Sasuke wondered, if only for a second, why she cared so much all of sudden. Then the moment was gone. He caught his brother out of the corner of his eye. 

Sasuke viewed his older brother as he stood in the middle of the lunch room. His brother had a habit of doing this exact same thing every single day at the same time like clockwork. It was almost as if he was looking for someone. However, after about 3 minutes he would turn sharply on his heels and leave the cafeteria. Who was he looking for? Why would he never go talk to whoever it was? Why did he always look so sad when he’d stand there diligently scanning the room? Was there anything he could do to help? It bothered Sasuke to see his brother do this, but mostly because he didn’t know why he did it. What was Itachi hiding from him? They have always told each other everything, but apparently not anymore. It seems both of them were keeping things to themselves. 

Sasuke should’ve been in disbelief that his older brother was a teacher at his school this year and at the age of 21 no less. He wasn’t sure whether to be impressed that Itachi started college at 17 or depressed because he was now 16, almost 17, and still in high school. His brother was always working hard and over exerting himself to be the best that he could be all for Sasuke’s sake. After their parents died when Sasuke was around 10 and Itachi was 15, they moved in with their ‘Uncle’ Obito and his wife, Rin. They stayed with them until Itachi was 18. That’s when he had finally saved enough to get Sasuke and him an apartment close to the school. Now the older brother was working in that very same school and it certainly didn’t help that all of the girls in Sasuke’s grade were attracted to Itachi. Well, maybe not all. Karin, Ino, and Sakura were seemingly hell bent on getting Sasuke to notice them. Unfortunately for them though, Sasuke had recently discovered that he was very much gay. He didn’t feel the need to tell them or anyone else for that matter. It was too personal and he didn’t get personal with any of his friends. He was still having a weird time with it himself, so he hadn’t even told Itachi yet. That was why he’s been so out of it. He kept his friends comfortably at arm’s length but no closer. Nobody could get closer. He didn’t want to open himself up to anyone, except Itachi obviously. He didn’t want to lose any more people that he loved. He’d already lost his father, his mother, and his brother’s boyfriend who was like another brother to him. The trauma and guilt he felt had almost tore him apart once, but thanks to his brother he made it through. Now if only he could help his brother, the way he was always helping him. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto felt like his stomach just dropped out of his body onto the floor along with the tray that just landed seconds before. How could he be so stupid? He was about to be caught red handed spying on his new foster brother, not only that but it was painfully discernable he was eating on a dirty toilet a minute ago. Could it be more humiliating? Probably not.

Neji didn’t know what happened. The sound from behind him made him jump, but he kept his focus on the mirror in front of him. Even if they did see him crying, he wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing him twice. He quickly pulled himself together; his broken smile had quickly turned to red hot burning rage. He balled his fists at his sides and turned to the stalls. The first thing that caught his attention was the red tray laying on the floor and the apple core that must’ve rolled out of the stall half way to his feet. Was somebody… eating in there? Of all places? He felt his fury subside even though it was against his own will. He was still pissed, but somebody else was apparently having as bad a day as he was. Relaxing his muscles and unclenching his fists, he let out a deep breath. After mentally counting to ten in his mind, he was perfectly calm now. 

“Come out,” Neji’s voice has just the right amount of softness to it that Naruto obliged. 

Naruto grasped the tray and his crushed milk carton before standing up, opening the stall door, and stepping out to reveal himself to his very composed foster brother. Why didn’t he look mad still?

“Hey…” 

Neji had to wrack his brain for a moment because the boy in front of him he didn’t recognize. It hit him immediately. “Naruto?” 

Seriously? Did he remember? Well, it was dark. Naruto grew flustered the second they made eye contact. The pale eyes that were engaging with his own were making him more nervous than he would’ve liked. “Ah, so you remember me?” He took his free hand to rub the back of his neck. Maybe this would be easier than he thought. 

“Remember you? What are you talking about?”

Nope. Dead wrong. “We kind of met already… last night?”

“No, I didn’t come in until late last night. We haven’t met. I’d know.”

“Yeah well. I hate to break it to you, but you kind of crawled into bed with me and…”

“And? Explain yourself!” Neji’s tone was demanding and a little scary. His receded anger was starting to come back to the surface.  
“You seriously don’t remember anything?”

“I was drinking, so no, I don’t.”

“What? Are you even old enough to do that?” Naruto gave him a disapproving look. 

“No, I suppose not, but that is irrelevant.”

Naruto was shocked for a moment, but then he figured it would be pretty easy for Neji to get alcohol. He probably had a fake I.D. It wouldn’t be hard for most adults to mistake him for someone who was 21. His appearance was refined, exquisite almost, and he held him himself in a way that made him look much older than he actually was. Naruto would almost go as far as to say that his eyes were much more striking than Hinata’s. They pulled Naruto in and commanded his respect and attention. He didn’t dare look away. 

“Well?” Neji spoke again because Naruto clearly in his own head.

“I’m not sure how to explain it, but I’ll try. I was sleeping. I thought the bed I got in was the bed that was ready for me, ya’ know? You must’ve come in after I fell asleep and got into bed with me. You were moaning and you just started… touching me? You got on top of me at some point. I woke up and I immediately got out of the bed after I realized what was going on. You were already asleep after I crawled out and flipped the light on.”

“I see.” For a genius, Neji has never felt stupider than he felt in this exact moment. “Listen, I’m sorry Naruto.” 

He’s sorry? That’s all he’s going to say? An apology wasn’t really what Naruto was after, but it did make him feel slightly better about going back to the house later tonight. It’s not like he didn’t feel safe or something, It just weirded him out. He had expected his first sexual experience to be with his first girlfriend. Though… he wasn’t sure if the fact that Neji was a guy was what weirded him out, or something else. “It’s okay I guess… Don’t let it happen again, okay?”

“It won’t. You have my word.” 

An awkward silence fell over the room. Their gazes were still locked; brilliant blue meeting pale lilac but neither one knew what to say now. 

_Ding, ding, ding._

The bell cut the tension with perfect timing. Neji took that as his opportunity to leave.

“Naruto, hey, one more thing before I go.”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“I have a girlfriend. I don’t want her to know about any of this. Everything you saw in this bathroom as well. Keep it between the two of us?”

“Sure… If you don’t tell anybody you found me eating in here. We’re practically brothers now, ya’ know? Keeping each other’s secrets.”

“I suppose you’re right.” 

They exchanged small smiles and Neji left the restroom. He headed to meet up with Tenten. He took entirely too long. She’s going to ask questions. 

Naruto was standing alone now in the bathroom. He has expected his encounter with his foster brother to take another path than it did, though he was thankful that it seemed it wasn’t as awkward as he was beginning to think it would’ve been. Naruto thought in that moment that maybe this really is what it felt like to have a real brother. Somebody to keep secrets with. Besides the whole touching his dick while he was sleeping thing, but that won’t happen again. So it’s not that big of a stretch. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Kakashi was casually strolling through the halls with his hands securely tucked in his pants pockets on the way to his 7th period class. He was late once again. 

“Senpai!” 

Kakashi turned towards who he knew undoubtedly could be no one other than his best friend and fellow teacher, Yamato. Yamato was Hidden Leaf High’s Biology teacher. He mostly taught 10th graders, but on some occasions he would teach older students who skipped out on Biology in their sophomore year for an easier science course. Yamato has been Kakashi’s friend since they met in college. Kakashi was a junior and Yamato was a freshman, but that didn’t stop the two from becoming close. They spent most of their college time and even after that together being each other’s wingman. That didn’t really work out for either of them though. They were both still extremely single and alone years later. 

“Yo.” 

“Why’d you bail on me for lunch?” Yamato hit Kakashi’s upper arm trying to be playful. 

“Oh. I had to go home to change my shirt.”

“What happened?” Yamato’s interest was piqued now. 

“Iruka wa-” Kakashi’s words were cut off and his ears were assaulted by Yamato’s cackling. “What’s so funny?” He rolled his eyes at his best friend’s sudden outburst. 

“Iruka?!” Yamato could barely contain himself now. “He spill coffee on you or something?” Yamato knew that Iruka pretty much became a walking caution sign when it came to Kakashi. 

“Or something. Why’s that funny?”  
“Oh come on, senpai! You can’t tell me you’ve never noticed how clumsy Iruka gets around you. He jumbles his words and gets flushed. Though…” He placed his hand to his chin questioningly, “I’m surprised he was around you at all.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He stopped coming to the teachers’ lounge a long time ago because you basically ignored him every time he tried to talk to you.”

“Hey! That’s not true, I’ve never ignored him.” Had he? 

“You did, senpai. You’ve embarrassed him in front of Kurenai, Asuma, Master Jiraiya, Gai, Orochimaru, Sasori, Itachi, and a few more colleagues so many times that I can’t remember…”

“But how? Am I the reason he eats alone every day?” A pang of guilt shot through his body. His hands shook in his pockets. 

“He would always talk to you and you wouldn’t answer. I know you were reading, but it kind of felt like you went out of your way to ignore him because you would always answer everybody else. He even offered you a piece of his homemade German chocolate cake one day and you turned him down. You dismissively waved your hand at him. You said, ‘Uh, I don’t like sweets’. You didn’t even make eye contact. That was the last day he went to the teachers’ lounge to eat with the rest of us. We all knew he made that cake just for you and he was mortified.”

“Why didn’t you ever say anything until now? I feel like an asshole.” 

“We all assumed you hated him or thought he was weird, so we didn’t bring it up. Kurenai however, thinks you did it because you’re attracted to Iruka. She said it’s her women’s intuition.” 

“I… I have class. I’m already late. We’ll finish this later.” Kakashi was thankful that his medical mask covered his face well enough to hide his reddening skin. 

“Senpai. I know it’s not my job to pry, but I know you well enough to know you’re blushing right now. He obviously likes you and yo-”

“You’re right, you shouldn’t pry.”

Yamato took that as his cue to drop it. He nodded to Kakashi as they both turned and went opposite directions down the halls towards their classrooms. He wondered if he shouldn’t have laughed or mentioned anything to Kakashi about Iruka. He felt a sliver of remorse for getting involved, but after what Kurenai said, the rest of the teacher’s wanted them to get together anyways. A gentle push in the right direction couldn’t hurt. His mind was already brewing up all of the ways to get the two in a room together. He wouldn’t be an unsuccessful wingman this time. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------

It was finally 9th period. Naruto was standing next to his new English teacher, Jiraiya sensei. Jiraiya was an older man, but he was still very attractive for someone his age. He had long white hair in a ponytail behind his back. It wasn’t sleek though. It was unruly like a lion’s mane. He was dressed in a classic red dress shirt with black slacks. Their initial meeting was brief before students started filing in the room, but he was sure that Kakashi sensei and Jiraiya were already his favorite teachers. They both had a sort of relaxed feeling to how they acted and how they talked. It made Naruto feel comfortable. This was his last class of the day and then he could go back to the house to finally take a nap.  
When he first came in the room he noticed that all the desks were arranged in groups of four around the room. Naruto could only guess that this meant that they were in the middle of some group project. He didn’t ask and kept his attention on Jiraiya sensei. 

“Naruto, since we picked groups last Friday, I’m going to put you in the group that is short one person. Group 7! Raise your hands please, so Naruto knows where to sit.”

Naruto turned towards the class now for the first time since the students started seating themselves. He looked to the back of the room. There were three hands up in the air. He started approaching, but he was absorbing their appearances as he got closer. The first group member was an attractive petite girl with light pink hair. She was wearing a white dress with little cherries all over it. Cute. He was so caught up in her looks that he didn’t notice the scowl she had on her face until just now. It had to be her reaction of him being placed in her group. The second group member was a boy with short black well-ordered hair. He had art supplies sprawled out in front of him and he was smiling. It looked like a fake smile. The third boy had black hair too, but his was more styled and the back was spiked up. He looked completely disinterested in the whole entire situation, but his eyes shifted up for just a fraction of a second to meet Naruto’s. 

When he got to them he grinned as big as he could and said, “Uzumaki Naruto! Nice to meet ya’!”

“Sai. Nice to meet you too, Naruto.” Sai nodded his head, but kept his smile plastered on his lips. He wasn’t sure yet what to make of the orange clad boy in front of him.

“Sakura…” Sakura made her disgust with Naruto evident as she kept her scowl firmly in place. 

“Sasuke.” Sasuke kept his demeanor cool and uninterested as ever. 

“So what’s this project all about, Sasuke?” Naruto sat down across from Sasuke and observed him. 

A feeling in his Sasuke’s gut was telling him to look up at Naruto again for a few seconds more. It made it clear to him even though his mind wasn’t interested, his body was. He lifted his eyes up again involuntarily, hoping to catch Naruto’s eye contact for a second time. They were a marvelous blue and they felt as deep and as vast as the ocean. Sasuke was sure he could scour them forever and he’d probably never discover all there was to find in those blue orbs. They were nothing like his eyes. They were something else entirely. Sasuke got lost in his thoughts. When he finally brought himself back to what was going on around him, he realized his eyes were still fixed on Naruto’s. They had been staring at each other for several minutes now in complete silence. He still didn’t look away. Their faces went from questioning, to concentrating and now to challenging. It was like they were in a heated staring competition that neither of them had issued. Neither one was willing to break first. 

“Hey!” Sakura’s angry voice broke their connection as she smacked her fist down on her desk. Sasuke and Naruto both turned their heads opposite directions at the same time looking away from each other. Each of them seemed flustered. “What the hell’s going on here? We have a project to discuss! Naruto! Stop fooling around!” She pulled her fist back up and shook it at him. 

“Stop staring at me, idiot.” Sasuke smirked turning his head forward towards Naruto. Trying to provoke him. 

Naruto looked back to Sasuke. “What? Seriously! You were the one staring at me, bastard!” 

“Tch. Sure.” Very smooth as always, he thought. 

“Are you flirting?” Sai asked looking between the two of them, blinking slowly. 

Sai’s comment had really set Sakura off now because she was about to bring her fist down on Naruto’s unsuspecting mop of yellow. Sasuke just ignored it keeping his normal impassive façade. Naruto was acting like he was just insulted or perhaps disgusted. He was stammering and saying, “It’s not like that!” over and over. Sai was sure that they had been flirting. He’d read a few books on the subject. They stared into each other’s eyes for far longer than most people on a first meeting. There was no doubt about it. They were definitely flirting. 100%. 

“You were flirting, I’m sure of it,” Sai said checking them over once more, “Nothing to be ashamed of.” He smiled again with his trademark smile, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

_Ding, ding, ding._

“Great! Now class is over and we didn’t get anything done! Damn it,” Sakura took a deep breath, “Okay… We’ll meet up at my house tonight to work on it some more.” She was actually kind of glad right now because this meant that Sasuke would be at her house. She could barely contain herself. Maybe they would get some alone time. 

“Tonight? I’m so sleepy though,” Naruto said as he let out a yawn, “Can we wait until tomorrow?” 

“He’s right. Tomorrows better,” Sasuke added. He shocked himself that he agreed with this obvious idiot. Sakura may have been right for once. He’s such a total loser. 

“Oh… Well, okay Sasuke. Tomorrow after school then. No fooling around tomorrow during class and maybe we will get something done before we get to my house.” She huffed, her irritation was clear. If they could actually get something done during class that meant that could potentially finish early. Meaning that Sasuke and her could have some time together after she forces the other two leave. 

“Yes, no more flirting please.” Sai added with a hint of humor in his voice.

Naruto stood up from his desk turning towards the door. “Whatever, Sai! As if. See you guys tomorrow.” 

The walk back to the Hyūga home was short, but it still made goosebumps rise on his tan skin. It was mid-January. The temperature was unforgiving and in his rush this morning he didn’t have time to grab a coat. He was glad he wasted no time getting out of that classroom though. It was awkward enough that Sasuke and him got into some heated battle of eye jousting, but then Sai was saying that they were flirting? Like, what was that even about? They weren’t flirting at all. He didn’t even like guys that like. Sai was delusional. So delusional. Almost certifiable. He wouldn’t flirt with that bastard even if he was interested in guys. Which he wasn’t. 

When he finally made it to the Hyūga house, he wasted no time getting up to Neji’s room. He still felt weird calling it their room or even his room. The room was empty. Neji was probably still at school or with his girlfriend. He made his way over to his bed, the actual bed intended for him. He stripped off those same clothes from the night before and crawled under his blankets. A nap was calling his name. He started drifting off almost as soon as his head rested against the pillow. “Yeah, I definitely don’t like guys like that… right? Right.” A final yawn released before he was out cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots and lots of denial, all around! Here, have some more denial. *throws it in the air like confetti*


End file.
